Lawrence Lemaoana

Lawrence Lemaoana (Born in 1982) is a Virtual artist who lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa. Quotes I met the Ambassador a few months ago, because he was new in the country, at an art meet-and-greet in Joburg, with myself as in independent artist, and artists from other galleries, including Mary Sibande and Sam Nhlengethwa and other artists. America has been really good at promoting an exchange of culture for the last 6 years; they’ve had this programme all along, though it was kind of dormant because they had other political situations to deal with. With the Ambassador being a patron of the arts, he invited us to come speak, have workshops with the students etc., that’s how we got involved. My work has been about questioning the essence of identity, and this idea of researching the meaning of identity; the theory that identity is a myth, that it is constructed, and that people face a material reality that is linked to race, sex and all those things. At the moment, my work deals with ideas of masculinity, and black masculinity within rugby, which is kind of a white sport in South Africa; how do we use art to pinpoint an alternative reality? It fits in well, but uncomfortably well, so I’m always aware of that idea of when something fits perfectly, it is uncomfortable. In a way, the workshop and conversation will aid me in thinking in a more complex way about these issues, and give me a more concrete way of moving forward. I’ve taken a sort of a hiatus from the art world; I’m thinking about different kinds of methodologies of creation, there is not only one way – the gallery system is not the only way of making work. Right now I’m working on my Masters at Wits, and I’m looking at the taxi industries methodology of survival as a way of creating works. I’m looking at buying a taxi, and trying to insert it into a museum. The taxi industry in this country offers 60% of this country transport, so most of the population relies on this system, but they are not acknowledged formally; I’m looking at those complexities. Tinkering and creating and being an interesting force, without being acknowledged by government or the formal system. It is, but for me, walking in to peoples houses, I feel uncomfortable and instrusive; this is someones living space. At the same time, it’s people that put themselves out there, there’s a agency that they have as people. In Joburg we’ve got these kind of projects, Arts on Main etc, and then there’s a different kind of Maboneng; it’s about it art, its about getting the well-off art community into poorer communities, and refurbishing these, there’s definitely a complexity there. But for me, the infrastructure we work on is very complicated from the start. It is, but for me, walking in to peoples houses, I feel uncomfortable and instrusive; this is someones living space. At the same time, it’s people that put themselves out there, there’s a agency that they have as people. In Joburg we’ve got these kind of projects, Arts on Main etc, and then there’s a different kind of Maboneng; it’s about it art, its about getting the well-off art community into poorer communities, and refurbishing these, there’s definitely a complexity there. But for me, the infrastructure we work on is very complicated from the start. It’s an interesting system and it’s a powerful system. It has it’s issues, it has it’s characters, it has interesting episodes. It’s a really complicated system that has it’s roots in commerce, that’s one of the things we tend to forget. When somebody makes a controversial artwork, it’s not necessarily going to change anything for people who are already educated in the arts. So that complication, that misunderstanding, becomes interesting. When somebody who is not ‘educated’ to see the work., sees the work – what is their relationship to it? It has to do with culture, it has to do with language, it has to do with the already complicated infrastructure of the country. I’ve lost interest in the process of the art world, I’m more interested In the stuff that transforms space, that transforms thinking, I don’t think there’s been enough energy towards that. The white cube is still the white cube, and nobody questions the essence of what the white cube means. Trying to transplant the white cube in somebodies home, it’s like regurgitating the same process just a different pigmentation. In Conversation with Lawrence Lemaoana,ARTAFRICA (12 June 2024) Category:Living people Category:1982 births Category:1980s Category:Artists